"Your new crossword format SUCKS bigtime!!!!"
-- reader Al Running, in a comment moments ago on USA Today's Facebook page. USAT completed the switch to the new beta website on Saturday, and complaints about the crossword puzzle dominate reaction. The paper's frequent response: "We'll share your input with our design team, and keep you posted. Again, thanks for the note."
Silver Lining Department: USAT doesn't have a comics page to revamp. If it did, the pitchforks and torches crowd would be storming the USAT tower in McLean, Va.
ReplyDeleteThey don't need a comics page - every page makes this journalist laugh.
ReplyDeleteToday's page one has the blue dot turned into a tornado and references the story on page 3 that tornadoes might be quiet this year. Thud.
ReplyDeleteAin't no hate like puzzle people hate.
ReplyDeleteToday's riddle:
ReplyDeleteHow many different fonts styles are used on the USA TODAY front page.
(Hint: it's more than 10)
11:17 how much will it cost to get the USA Today font issue resolved?
ReplyDeleteAnd who thought this was a good idea to begin with?
In my 9 years at our local Gannett paper we ran the wrong Jumble several times. You would have thought we were barbecuing babies based on some readers anger.
ReplyDeleteTruly disturbing to watch a once proud brand stumbling around like a bad college weekly. With change comes certain expected trials and errors, granted. But to witness the clown acts (big and small) of the last few years at USAT, well, all I can say is that I don't think USAT is destined to stay on or near the top -- at least not as long as it wants to remain a general interest news product. Just too many amateurs and kiss-asses on all levels, making both the print and online editions laughable to serious consumers of news. Of course, maybe serious readers, like Mitt Romney's 47 percent of the electorate, aren't who USAT plans to court.
ReplyDeleteYou simply do not jack with puzzles, comics or obits. Sometimes I think that's all we'll be publishing in a few years.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pathetic attempt by USAT to update their website. You used to be able to - at a glance - get a general picture of things in the news. Now you must scroll and scroll and scroll to find things.
ReplyDeleteThey can have it!!! I'll come back in a few weeks to see if they've fixed anything.
By the way, try accessing the crossword puzzle from Internet Explorer...can't be done!!
I can still assess the old crossword format at http://puzzles.usatoday.com/
ReplyDeleteOops What's a six-letter word, correctly spelled, for "get to"?
ReplyDeleteI hate the new crossword. It is slow
ReplyDelete